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In the early hours of February 8, 2024, police raided two addresses linked to the Clapham alkaline chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi, including his place of employment. Photos taken at the scene showed police surrounding the Best Bite pizza shop in Forest Hall Road, Newcastle, where the suspect was reportedly employed.
According to the Mirror, police raided the takeaway restaurant located 290 miles from the scene of the chemical attack that saw a 31-year-old mother of two left with potentially "life-changing" injuries on January 31. A few surrounding places, including an upstairs flat, a nearby pub, and Springfield Park, were also searched.
Abdul Ezedi, a convicted sex offender and an Afghani refugee, was also injured in the attack, and police believe that he might die of his injuries if he refuses to seek medical help. According to The Daily Mail, he was last seen on Grosvenor Road, near Vauxhall Bridge, at 11:03 pm on the night of the attack.
Police spent two hours searching the pizza shop where Abdul Ezedi worked
According to The Sun, police cordoned off a 200-yard stretch of road outside the Best Bite pizza shop at 11 pm on February 7. The armed officers yelled for the restaurant employees to evacuate the shop and spent two hours searching the building and the upstairs flat for clues.
A Met Police spokesperson told the Mirror,
"In the early hours of this morning, Thursday 8 February, armed police executed two warrants in Newcastle at addresses associated with Ezedi, including his place of work. This was a joint operation between Northumbria Police and the Met. No arrests were made, enquiries and searches continue."
The staff at the pizza shop claimed that Abdul Ezedi worked there for a few days last year. A barber who worked near the pizza shop told ChronicleLive that he used to work in the kitchen.
According to the Mirror, Best Bite's manager said he didn't mind the search as Ezedi wasn't in the shop.
He said,
"This has come up from London. They came and searched and found nothing. That's fine. We don't mind. He isn't here."
At around 2 am, police vacated the premises with bagged-up objects as evidence, including the CCTV tapes from the takeaway shop.
Met Police believe Abdul Ezedi was romantically involved with the victim
On January 31, Abdul Ezedi allegedly attacked a 31-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged 3 and 8, with an alkaline, corrosive substance at around 7:25 on Lessar Avenue, Clapham. Police believe that the attack may have been motivated by the breakdown of the romantic relationship between the suspect and the victim.
According to the Mirror, the unnamed woman is still hospitalized, with doctors stating that she could potentially lose sight in her right eye, but her children have since been released. Friends of the Clapham victims have started a GoFundMe page to cover the family's medical bills.
Abdul Ezedi migrated to the UK from Afghanistan in 2016. In 2018, he was convicted of two offenses but was not deported as his crimes were "not serious enough to meet the threshold for deportation."
The search for Abdul Ezedi is led and coordinated by the Specialist Crime Command with a team of more than 100 officers. Police have offered a £20,00 reward to anyone offering information that would lead to his arrest.
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